500 Home Run Club Single-Signed Ball Collection (21) - All Graded MINT+ 9.5 by PSA/DNA

This extraordinary offering, which features eighteen different 500 Home Run Club single-signed balls (plus three others signed by players who came close to making the club), is comprised only of balls that have been graded MINT+ 9.5 by PSA/DNA. The 500 Home Run Club members represented in the collection are Mickey Mantle, Eddie Mathews, Willie Mays, Hank Aaron, Ernie Banks, Harmon Killebrew, Willie McCovey, Reggie Jackson, Barry Bonds, Alex Rodriguez, Mike Schmidt, Gary Sheffield, Frank Thomas, Eddie Murray, Frank Robinson, Manny Ramirez, Jim Thome, and Rafael Palmeiro. Also included in this collection are MINT+ 9.5 single-signed balls of three players who at one point appeared to be on track to break the 500 home-run mark: Carlos Delgado (473), Vladimir Guerrero (449), and Andruw Jones (434). Each signature has been scripted in blue ink across the sweet spot of an official Major League (Selig) ball with the exception of Mantle (OAL [Brown] ball) and Mathews (ONL [White] ball). All of the balls are housed in their original sealed cases and are accompanied by their individual PSA/DNA LOA and/or COA. This remarkable high-grade single-signed ball collection features eighteen of the twenty-five members of the venerable 500 Home Run Club. The seven players missing for completion are, of course, Ruth, Foxx, and Ott (GEM MINT 10 graded balls for each of these three players are not even listed in the SMR due to either their extreme rarity or because no examples are known), plus Ted Williams, Ken Griffey Jr., Mark McGwire, and Sammy Sosa. A 500 Home Run Club collection of MINT+ 9.5 single-signed ball, as one might expect, is extremely difficult to assemble and this is only the second such collection we have ever offered (a slightly smaller offering appears elsewhere in this auction). Ideally, the eight examples needed for modern-day completeness are all obtainable and the collector who purchases this group, given time, should eventually be successful in amassing a complete 500 Home Run Club MINT+ 9.5 single-signed ball collection (which, we might add, would be, to the best of our knowledge, the first of its kind, as we know of no collector having ever accomplished the task). Unfortunately, there are currently no SMR values for MINT+ 9.5 balls. However, if we average the values for a MINT 9 and GEM MINT 10 ball for each of the players represented here, excluding Sheffield, Thome, Thomas, Delgado, Jones, and Guerrero (no values yet listed for those balls), the figure we arrive at is $4,343. While that is only a rough estimate, based on averages, it does allow for an approximate SMR value in the absence of a formal report. Even so, that number might be very low, given the extraordinary quality of each ball and especially given the difficulty and cost of obtaining the most recent members. This is a modern-day collecting classic and an extraordinary collection exactly as is. The assembly of this collection in such incredibly high grade and quality will most likely be even more greatly appreciated in the years to come. LOA from James Spence/JSA. Total: 21 balls. Reserve $1,000. Estimate $3,000+. SOLD FOR $2,962.50

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